What Is the Markdown To Textile Table Converter?

The Markdown To Textile Table Converter on A.Tools transforms Markdown pipe-delimited tables — or Excel and CSV files — into Textile table syntax, the markup format used by Redmine, Textpattern, and Basecamp Classic. All processing runs in your browser. No data leaves your device.

Markdown tables appear in GitHub documentation and wikis. Textile tables are required in Redmine issue trackers, Textpattern CMS, and legacy Basecamp projects. This tool converts between the two without manual reformatting.

How to Convert Markdown Tables to Textile?

Step 1: Provide Your Data

Click Enter Data to paste a Markdown table, or click Choose File to upload a .md, .xlsx, .xls, or .csv file. Press Sample to load example data.

This tool accepts 5 input formats — more than most converters.

Step 2: Edit in the Online Table Editor

Once parsed, an interactive spreadsheet appears. Use the toolbar to:

• Add or delete rows and columns

• Transpose the table (swap rows and columns)

• Remove duplicate rows

• Delete empty rows and columns

• Change text case (UPPERCASE, lowercase, Capitalize)

• Find and replace values — supports case-sensitive search and regex

• Toggle First Row as Header to treat the first row as column names

Right-click any cell for context-menu operations.

Step 3: Configure Textile Output

In the Properties panel:

Step 4: Export

Click Convert to generate Textile output. Use Copy to Clipboard or Download File to save.

Key Features

• 5 input formats: Markdown (.md), Excel (.xlsx, .xls), CSV (.csv)

• Two input modes: Paste directly or drag-and-drop a file

• Full table editor: Edit, transpose, deduplicate, find-and-replace before converting

• 5 Textile settings: Alignment, CSS class, HTML ID, cell padding, pretty print

• Client-side processing: Files never leave the browser — zero data upload

• Undo/Redo: Full edit history with revert support

• Context menu: Right-click for quick row/column/cell operations

• Header toggle: Treat the first row as a header or regular data

• Validation indicator: Real-time feedback on input validity

What Is Textile?

Textile is a lightweight markup language created by Dean Allen in 2002. It converts plain text with simple punctuation into structured HTML. Textile is used in:

• Redmine — the open-source project management and issue tracking platform (default formatting since v0.6)

• Textpattern — a PHP-based CMS

• Basecamp Classic — the original 37signals project management tool

• Movable Type — blogging platform (optional format)

Textile reference documentation is maintained at textile-lang.com.

Redmine's Textile formatting guide is available at redmine.org.

Textile Table Syntax Reference

Textile uses pipe characters (|) for tables, similar to Markdown, but with distinct syntax for headers and modifiers.

Basic Table

|_. Name |_. Age |_. City |
| Alice | 30 | New York |
| Bob | 25 | Los Angeles |

• |_. denotes a header cell (equivalent to Markdown's separator row)

• | denotes a data cell

Alignment Modifiers

|<. Left |=. Center |>. Right |

Table Attributes

table#.my-id(table-class).
|_. Header |
| Data |

• table#id sets the HTML id

• (class) sets the CSS class

Cell Spanning

|\2. Spans 2 columns |
| A | B |

• |\2. spans 2 columns

• /2. spans 2 rows

Cell Padding and Pretty Print

Cell padding adds a . separator between the modifier and content:

|_. Header 1 |_. Header 2 |
| Cell 1     | Cell 2     |

Pretty print adds consistent whitespace for alignment.

Textile Output Settings Explained

Table Alignment

Applies alignment to the entire table. This adds alignment modifiers (<., =., >.) to each cell.

• Default: No alignment modifiers added

• Left: All cells get <.

• Center: All cells get =.

• Right: All cells get >.

Table Class

Adds a CSS class to the table tag. Enter a class name without the leading dot (e.g., my-table generates table(my-table).).

Use this when the target platform supports custom CSS and you need to style the table.

Table ID

Adds an HTML id attribute to the table tag (e.g., data-table generates table#data-table.).

Use this for anchor linking or JavaScript targeting.

Cell Padding

When enabled, adds a space after the pipe and before the content in each cell. This improves readability of the raw Textile source without affecting rendered output.

Pretty Print

When enabled, pads all cells with spaces so that pipes align vertically. Makes the Textile source easier to scan in a text editor.

Markdown vs. Textile Tables

Markdown tables are simpler but limited to basic header/data rows. Textile tables support spanning, alignment, attributes, and CSS classes — making them more powerful for Redmine and CMS content.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• Does this tool upload my files to a server?

  No. All file parsing and conversion runs in your browser using JavaScript. Your data stays on your device. A.Tools never receives, stores, or transmits your file contents.

• What file formats does this tool accept as input?

  The tool accepts Markdown (.md), Excel (.xlsx, .xls), and CSV (.csv) files. You can also paste Markdown table text directly into the input area.

• What is Textile table syntax?

  Textile uses pipe characters (|) for table cells. Header cells use |_. prefix. Alignment is specified with <. (left), =. (center), >. (right). The syntax is used in Redmine, Textpattern, and Basecamp Classic.

• Can I add CSS classes or HTML IDs to the Textile table?

  Yes. Enter a class name in the Table Class field and/or an ID in the Table ID field. The converter generates the correct Textile attribute syntax.

• Is the output compatible with Redmine?

  Yes. The output follows standard Textile table syntax that is fully compatible with Redmine's Textile formatting engine. Copy the output and paste it into any Redmine text field (issues, wiki pages, forums).

• What does Pretty Print do?

  Pretty Print pads all cells with spaces so that the pipe characters align vertically. This makes the Textile source code easier to read in a text editor but does not affect the rendered HTML output.

• Can I edit the table before converting?

  Yes. After parsing, the full table editor lets you modify cells, add or remove rows and columns, transpose, deduplicate, change text case, and find-and-replace values.

• Is there a file size limit?

  Processing is client-side, so the limit depends on your browser's memory. Tables with tens of thousands of rows work reliably on modern browsers.